ABSTRACT
From grocery store to doctor's office, alternative medicine is everywhere. A recent survey found that more than two in five Americans uses some form of alternative medicine. The Politics of Healing brings together top scholars in the fields of American history, history of medicine, anthropology, sociology, and politics to counter the view that alternative medical therapies fell into disrepute in the decades after physicians established their institutional authority during the Progressive Era. From homeopathy to Navajo healing, this volume explores a variety of alternative therapies and political movements that have set the terms of debate over North American healing methods.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |18 pages
NEGOTIATING DISSENT
Homeopathy and Anti-Vaccinationism at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
chapter |14 pages
MAKING FRIENDS FOR “PURE” HOMEOPATHY
Hahnemannians and the Twentieth-Century Preservation and Transformation of Homeopathy
chapter |11 pages
REVISITING THE “GOLDEN AGE” OF REGULAR MEDICINE
The Politics of Alternative Cancer Care in Canada, 1900–1950
chapter |11 pages
“VOODOO DEATH”
Fantasy, Excitement, and the Untenable Boundaries of Biomedical Science
chapter |20 pages
SISTER KENNY GOES TO WASHINGTON
Polio, Populism, and Medical Politics in Postwar America
chapter |14 pages
THE LUNATIC FRINGE STRIKES BACK
Conservative Opposition to the Alaska Mental Health Bill of 1956
chapter |20 pages
“NOT A SO-CALLED DEMOCRACY”
Anti-Fluoridationists and the Fight over Drinking Water
chapter |27 pages
ENGENDERING ALTERNATIVES
Women’s Health Care Choices and Feminist Medical Rebellions
chapter |22 pages
THE POLITICS AND POETICS OF “MAGAZINE MEDICINE”
New Age Ayurveda in the Print Media
chapter |13 pages
CAM CANCER THERAPIES IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY NORTH AMERICA
The Emergence and Growth of a Social Movement
